Social Oedipus

Friday 2 May

Audience – 4 + 6

Good one tonight. Bit more pace. I was more confident. Small audience, but at least there was someone there. I was a bit distracted, what with the same old stuff. So it was nice to go to the pub afterwards.

But before that I went out and watched ‘Antigone’ in the audience, with Georgina (hence
the +2 above). It was good to finally see the second part of the show I’m in. I’ve never
managed it in rehearsal – too busy learning lines in the kitchen.

‘Antigone’ is a pretty dismal story, but it was done with sharpness, depth and sensitivity. It’s a bit weird to watch Julian playing an older version of my character. Strictly speaking, I’m playing a younger version of his character – and only for the last two weeks. Because of this, I found myself thinking how I can make my portrayal more in tune with his. My final act is to stand in a spotlight and consider my future and those of Oedipus’ children, so I can now try to visibly become the man in the second act.

I’d stuck around to watch the full show, but also to socialise with the rest of the cast. We went to the awful Wetherspoons (The Chav and Rickets, or something), where hateful
scum go to get blasted on cheap beer, hump each other behnd the bins and conceive the
next generation of rat-faced social liabilities. If this sounds like snobbery, that’s because it is – but no less true.

But it did mean that I could buy a round for everyone in the cast and have enough change
from a fiver for a pie, a woman, and the bus home.

I was on a down anyway because of stuff, and I had a bit of a moan to a very understanding Oedipus – who you’d think would be happy to hear about someone else’s
problems for a change. When I got home at about midnight I despondently checked my email, just in case, and found the thing I’d been waiting for.Â So then I was up until
3am on Skype with Cassie, and trying to figure out what just happened.